At Home On The Range! The Mission To Win A Championship With The Texas Rangers

gollum65 · 10-11-2008, 09:08 AM

Some of you guys know me from the online leagues I participate in. I'm commish of the AMBL, and a GM in the WBL, RSL, and SSBL. But even with 4 online leagues I still find myself with free time on my hands, so I usually have a solo league running. I'm starting a new one, so I figured I'd relate it's story in this forum.

Usually when I take a building project in a solo league, I go crazy trading & claiming waived players so that by year 2, the team looks nothing like when it started. I'm not going to do that this time. I'll have self imposed "rules" that I'll describe in a bit.

League Setup:

Roster: Nomar's 2008 V1 MLB roster.
I decided to use this roster instead of Cubbyfan's so I could start in the preseason and turn on the Rule 5 Draft.

Scouting & Coaches: OFF

Injuries: Low

Trading Frequency: Very Low

Trading Difficulty: Hard

Ratings: 1-10 with over 10 allowed

Aging & Dev Speeds: 1.000
I decied that if Markus is right about player aging and development FINALLY working right in 9.22, then I should start at 1.000 and see what happens.

Modifiers: 1.000
Same reasoning as I used for the aging and dev speed. We'll see what happens.

Financials: On, based off 2007 settings.

"Self Imposed Rules":
1: No trades in the regular season until the final week before the trading deadline.
2: No waiver claims
3: No trades in the preseason

I think these "self imposed rules" will bring a more realistic feel to the franchse since you won't see 100 transactions by the end of each season.

Since the roster start date is March 23rd, we're technically near the end of spring training, so there will be no trades until July. Also, like Cubbyfan's roster, there are a bunch of players on waivers to start the season. I won't be claiming any, but there are 9 Rangers on the wire. Hopefully they won't get claimed....

Opening Day Rosters:
Starting Pitchers:
#1: Kevin Millwood
#2: Vicente Padilla
#3: Jason Jennings
#4: Jamey Wright
#5: Kason Gabbard

Middle Relievers:
Wes Littleton
Franklyn German
Frank Francisco
C.J. Wilson

Setup Man:
"Everyday" Eddie Guardado

Closer:
Joaquin Benoit

Catchers:
"Salty" Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Taylor Teagarden

First Base:
Frank Catalanotto

Second Base:
Ian Kinsler
Adam Fox

Shortstop:
Michael Young
Elvis Andrus

Third Base:
Hank Blalock
Ramon Vazquez

Left Field:
Marlon Byrd
David Murphy

Center Field:
Josh Hamilton

Right Field:
Milton Bradley
Kevin Mench

Designated Hitter:
Most nights it'll be Mench

"Everyday" Batting Order:
2B Kinsler
SS Young
DH Mench
CF Hamilton
C Saltalamacchia
RF Bradley
1B Catalanotto
3B Blalock
LF Byrd

I'll be using 7 day lineups and will manage each game myself. I'll report on the forum after each series with final scores and game recaps.

I ask that anyone reading this threat PLEASE give me feedback and suggestions! I'm not writing this for the sake of writing. I like to engage the readers and get their ideas and thoughts. I usually will post potential trades before I make them to see what other guys think about them. So please, post your comments!

The season opens with a 3 game series in Seattle. Will post after that series.

gollum65 · 10-11-2008, 09:26 AM

Forgot to mention our top prospects and our financial strategy...

The top batting prospect in the organization is Elvis Andrus (MLB). The top pitching prospect is Neftali Feliz (A). The Rangers have the #3 rated organization with 5 Rangers making Baseball America's Top 100 prospects.

Coming into the season, the Rangers are in good shape financially. Our payroll is just over $61M, with our budget being just over $86M. Fan interest is slightly above average, at 65. I've set the team focus to "rebuilding" and lowered ticket prices to an average of $12 per seat.

There are 21 Rangers who are slated to become free agents, including 7 on the ML roster. There's also 1 player slated to go to binding salary arbitration after the season. As of now, I still haven't made any decisions on any players. We'll have to see how they play.

My expectations for this season are for the team to finish near .500, but probably below. We got tons of offense, but like most Ranger teams, no pitching.

gollum65 · 10-12-2008, 09:05 AM

Series Recap: Texas @ Seattle

The Rangers took 2 of 3 games in the first series of the regular season, but it was by no means easy.

Game 1: Texas 3 Seattle 2 (10 Innings)
The Rangers got a quality start from Kevin Millwood (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 2 BB), but it took a 9th inning leadoff homer by Hank Blalock off Seattle reliever Mark Lowe to force extra innings. In the 10th inning, Michael Young drew a 2 out walk off Lowe, then stole 2nd base. Frank Catalanotto followed that up with an RBI double to give Texas the 3-2 lead. Eddie Guardado pitched 1.1 innings to get the win and Joaquin Benoit got the final 2 outs in the 10th to pick up the save. Milton Bradley also homered in the game, a 2 out solo blast in the 4th inning off Eric Bedard.

Game 2: Seattle 5 Texas 3
The Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning on a 2-run homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, followed 3 batters later by an RBI double by Hank Blalock. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the first 5 Mariners reached base on a double, a single, a walk, an error, and a single, and Seattle scored 2 runs. Then in the bottom of the 6th they put together 4 singles to score 2 runs, taking a 4-3 lead, which they never relenquished. "King" Felix Hernandez pitched 8 innings for Seattle, giving up 3 earned runs, striking out 7, and walking 2 to pick up the win. J.J. Putz pitched a perfect 9th to get the save. Vincente Padilla took the loss for the Rangers (5.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 1 BB).

Game 3: Texas 5 Seattle 2
With the game tied at 2 going into the 7th inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the inning with a double and was singled home by Frank Catalanotto with 1 out, and Texas never looked back. Jason Jennings gave the Rangers a quality start to pick up his 1st win of the season. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits, struck out 1 and walked 1. C.J. Wilson got a rare 3 inning save. He allowed 2 hits in his 2nd outing of the year. Cha Seung Baek took the loss for Seattle.

Rangers Batter Of The Series: Hank Blalock (.455, 1 HR, 2 RBI)
Rangers Pitcher Of The Series: Kevin Millwood (1 GS, 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER)

Next up for the Rangers is a 3 game series in Anaheim against the Angels.

gollum65 · 10-13-2008, 10:34 AM

Series Recap: Texas @ Los Angeles Angels

The Angels took 2 out of 3 from Texas to win the first series of the season with their division rivals.

Game 1: Los Angeles 7 Texas 4
Texas got single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings and took a 4-4 tie into the 9th inning. But Franklyn German gave up a 2 out, 3 run walk off homer to Maicer Izturis & the Angels won the game 7-4.

Game 2: Texas 9 Los Angeles 1
While the Rangers offense woke up and scored 9 runs off a very good Angel team, the star of the game was Kason Gabbard. Michael Young had 4 singles and drove in 3 runs, and Ian Kinsler had 2 doubles and 3 RBIs, but it was Gabbard who pitched a complete game 4 hitter that allowed Texas to get the easy win. Gabbard struck out 5 and walked 5, but the only Angel to cross the plate came in the 8th inning when Howie Kendrick hit a 2 out solo homer to break the shutout.

Game 3: Los Angeles 5 Texas 2
The Angels jumped on Kevin Millwood early, taking a 3-1 lead after 3 innings and that was all Joe Saunders and the Angels bullpen would need. Texas left 8 runners on base in the game.

Series Recap: Baltimore @ Texas

The Rangers opened their home season by taking 2 out of 3 from the hapless Orioles.

Game 1: Texas 11 Baltimore 1
The Rangers offense piled 8 runs on Orioles starter Daniel Cabrerra in before the O's even recorded an out in the 2nd inning. But the icing on the cake was a 3 run homer by Kevin Mench off Chad Bradford, who had just come in to relieve Cabrerra. The rest of the game was academic. Vincente Padilla picked up his first win of the year.

Game 2: Texas 7 Baltimore 2
The Rangers used another big inning to beat Baltimore, scoring 6 runs in the 5th off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, who had been crusing along up to that point. Texas used 6 singles and a double to tally the 6 runs in the inning. Jason Jennings got his 2nd win of the year, striking out 8 and walking 2.

Game 3: Baltimore 1 Texas 0
Baltimore used 4 pitchers to limit the Rangers to 4 hits as they picked up the shutout. The only run came in the top of the 6th on a Nick Markakis RBI single with Brian Roberts on 2nd base. Jamey Wright was the hard luck loser.

Next up the Rangers will host Toronto for 3 games, followed by the Angels for 3 games to close out their first home stand of the year.

gollum65 · 10-15-2008, 11:22 AM

Series Recap: Toronto @ Texas

Texas took 2 of 3 from the Blue Jays.

Game 1: Toronto 3 Texas 2
Toronto's Shaun Marcum dominated the Rangers for the first 8 innings, giving up no runs and only 2 hits. Texas made it interesting by getting 2 runs off Jays closer B.J. Ryan, but it wasn't enough.

Game 2: Texas 6 Toronto 4
Kevin Millwood picked up his first win of the year. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 runs on 11 hits. Josh Hamilton broke out of a slump by hitting his first homer of the year, a grand slam in the 6th inning!

Game 3: Texas 6 Toronto 5
Toronto led 5-3 after 6 innings, but their bullpen couldn't hold it. Vincente Padilla had a good outing for Texas, but got a no decision. He gave up 5 runs in 7 innings on just 5 hits.

Series Recap: Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers

I was mistaken in my previous post. This was just a 2 game series. The Rangers won both games.

Game 1: Texas 12 Los Angeles 9
This was a slugfest from start to finish. The teams combined for 3 homers and 9 doubles. The Angels led 8-4 going into the bottom of the 5th inning, but the Rangers scored 4 in the 5th and 3 in the 6th to take the lead. Hank Blalock was 4-4 with 4 RBIs for the Rangers.

Game 2: Texas 3 Los Angeles 1
Ian Kinsler propelled the Rangers to victory in this one. He had 2 doubles and homer, driving in all 3 Texas runs. Jamey Wright pictched 7 strong innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits.

The Rangers hit the road now, with 2 games in Toronto, 4 in Boston, and 3 in Detroit.

10-11-2008, 09:08 AM	#1 (permalink)
gollum65 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 181	At Home On The Range! The Mission To Win A Championship With The Texas Rangers Some of you guys know me from the online leagues I participate in. I'm commish of the AMBL, and a GM in the WBL, RSL, and SSBL. But even with 4 online leagues I still find myself with free time on my hands, so I usually have a solo league running. I'm starting a new one, so I figured I'd relate it's story in this forum. Usually when I take a building project in a solo league, I go crazy trading & claiming waived players so that by year 2, the team looks nothing like when it started. I'm not going to do that this time. I'll have self imposed "rules" that I'll describe in a bit. League Setup: Roster: Nomar's 2008 V1 MLB roster. I decided to use this roster instead of Cubbyfan's so I could start in the preseason and turn on the Rule 5 Draft. Scouting & Coaches: OFF Injuries: Low Trading Frequency: Very Low Trading Difficulty: Hard Ratings: 1-10 with over 10 allowed Aging & Dev Speeds: 1.000 I decied that if Markus is right about player aging and development FINALLY working right in 9.22, then I should start at 1.000 and see what happens. Modifiers: 1.000 Same reasoning as I used for the aging and dev speed. We'll see what happens. Financials: On, based off 2007 settings. "Self Imposed Rules": 1: No trades in the regular season until the final week before the trading deadline. 2: No waiver claims 3: No trades in the preseason I think these "self imposed rules" will bring a more realistic feel to the franchse since you won't see 100 transactions by the end of each season. Since the roster start date is March 23rd, we're technically near the end of spring training, so there will be no trades until July. Also, like Cubbyfan's roster, there are a bunch of players on waivers to start the season. I won't be claiming any, but there are 9 Rangers on the wire. Hopefully they won't get claimed.... Opening Day Rosters: Starting Pitchers: #1: Kevin Millwood #2: Vicente Padilla #3: Jason Jennings #4: Jamey Wright #5: Kason Gabbard Middle Relievers: Wes Littleton Franklyn German Frank Francisco C.J. Wilson Setup Man: "Everyday" Eddie Guardado Closer: Joaquin Benoit Catchers: "Salty" Jarrod Saltalamacchia Taylor Teagarden First Base: Frank Catalanotto Second Base: Ian Kinsler Adam Fox Shortstop: Michael Young Elvis Andrus Third Base: Hank Blalock Ramon Vazquez Left Field: Marlon Byrd David Murphy Center Field: Josh Hamilton Right Field: Milton Bradley Kevin Mench Designated Hitter: Most nights it'll be Mench "Everyday" Batting Order: 2B Kinsler SS Young DH Mench CF Hamilton C Saltalamacchia RF Bradley 1B Catalanotto 3B Blalock LF Byrd I'll be using 7 day lineups and will manage each game myself. I'll report on the forum after each series with final scores and game recaps. I ask that anyone reading this threat PLEASE give me feedback and suggestions! I'm not writing this for the sake of writing. I like to engage the readers and get their ideas and thoughts. I usually will post potential trades before I make them to see what other guys think about them. So please, post your comments! The season opens with a 3 game series in Seattle. Will post after that series.

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10-11-2008, 09:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
gollum65 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 181	Forgot to mention our top prospects and our financial strategy... The top batting prospect in the organization is Elvis Andrus (MLB). The top pitching prospect is Neftali Feliz (A). The Rangers have the #3 rated organization with 5 Rangers making Baseball America's Top 100 prospects. Coming into the season, the Rangers are in good shape financially. Our payroll is just over $61M, with our budget being just over $86M. Fan interest is slightly above average, at 65. I've set the team focus to "rebuilding" and lowered ticket prices to an average of $12 per seat. There are 21 Rangers who are slated to become free agents, including 7 on the ML roster. There's also 1 player slated to go to binding salary arbitration after the season. As of now, I still haven't made any decisions on any players. We'll have to see how they play. My expectations for this season are for the team to finish near .500, but probably below. We got tons of offense, but like most Ranger teams, no pitching.

10-12-2008, 09:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
gollum65 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 181	Series Recap: Texas @ Seattle The Rangers took 2 of 3 games in the first series of the regular season, but it was by no means easy. Game 1: Texas 3 Seattle 2 (10 Innings) The Rangers got a quality start from Kevin Millwood (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 K, 2 BB), but it took a 9th inning leadoff homer by Hank Blalock off Seattle reliever Mark Lowe to force extra innings. In the 10th inning, Michael Young drew a 2 out walk off Lowe, then stole 2nd base. Frank Catalanotto followed that up with an RBI double to give Texas the 3-2 lead. Eddie Guardado pitched 1.1 innings to get the win and Joaquin Benoit got the final 2 outs in the 10th to pick up the save. Milton Bradley also homered in the game, a 2 out solo blast in the 4th inning off Eric Bedard. Game 2: Seattle 5 Texas 3 The Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning on a 2-run homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, followed 3 batters later by an RBI double by Hank Blalock. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the first 5 Mariners reached base on a double, a single, a walk, an error, and a single, and Seattle scored 2 runs. Then in the bottom of the 6th they put together 4 singles to score 2 runs, taking a 4-3 lead, which they never relenquished. "King" Felix Hernandez pitched 8 innings for Seattle, giving up 3 earned runs, striking out 7, and walking 2 to pick up the win. J.J. Putz pitched a perfect 9th to get the save. Vincente Padilla took the loss for the Rangers (5.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 1 BB). Game 3: Texas 5 Seattle 2 With the game tied at 2 going into the 7th inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia led off the inning with a double and was singled home by Frank Catalanotto with 1 out, and Texas never looked back. Jason Jennings gave the Rangers a quality start to pick up his 1st win of the season. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits, struck out 1 and walked 1. C.J. Wilson got a rare 3 inning save. He allowed 2 hits in his 2nd outing of the year. Cha Seung Baek took the loss for Seattle. Rangers Batter Of The Series: Hank Blalock (.455, 1 HR, 2 RBI) Rangers Pitcher Of The Series: Kevin Millwood (1 GS, 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER) Next up for the Rangers is a 3 game series in Anaheim against the Angels.

10-13-2008, 10:34 AM	#4 (permalink)
gollum65 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 181	Series Recap: Texas @ Los Angeles Angels The Angels took 2 out of 3 from Texas to win the first series of the season with their division rivals. *Game 1: Los Angeles 7 Texas 4* Texas got single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings and took a 4-4 tie into the 9th inning. But Franklyn German gave up a 2 out, 3 run walk off homer to Maicer Izturis & the Angels won the game 7-4. *Game 2: Texas 9 Los Angeles 1* While the Rangers offense woke up and scored 9 runs off a very good Angel team, the star of the game was Kason Gabbard. Michael Young had 4 singles and drove in 3 runs, and Ian Kinsler had 2 doubles and 3 RBIs, but it was Gabbard who pitched a complete game 4 hitter that allowed Texas to get the easy win. Gabbard struck out 5 and walked 5, but the only Angel to cross the plate came in the 8th inning when Howie Kendrick hit a 2 out solo homer to break the shutout. *Game 3: Los Angeles 5 Texas 2* The Angels jumped on Kevin Millwood early, taking a 3-1 lead after 3 innings and that was all Joe Saunders and the Angels bullpen would need. Texas left 8 runners on base in the game. Series Recap: Baltimore @ Texas The Rangers opened their home season by taking 2 out of 3 from the hapless Orioles. *Game 1: Texas 11 Baltimore 1* The Rangers offense piled 8 runs on Orioles starter Daniel Cabrerra in before the O's even recorded an out in the 2nd inning. But the icing on the cake was a 3 run homer by Kevin Mench off Chad Bradford, who had just come in to relieve Cabrerra. The rest of the game was academic. Vincente Padilla picked up his first win of the year. *Game 2: Texas 7 Baltimore 2* The Rangers used another big inning to beat Baltimore, scoring 6 runs in the 5th off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, who had been crusing along up to that point. Texas used 6 singles and a double to tally the 6 runs in the inning. Jason Jennings got his 2nd win of the year, striking out 8 and walking 2. *Game 3: Baltimore 1 Texas 0* Baltimore used 4 pitchers to limit the Rangers to 4 hits as they picked up the shutout. The only run came in the top of the 6th on a Nick Markakis RBI single with Brian Roberts on 2nd base. Jamey Wright was the hard luck loser. Next up the Rangers will host Toronto for 3 games, followed by the Angels for 3 games to close out their first home stand of the year.

10-15-2008, 11:22 AM	#5 (permalink)
gollum65 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 181	Series Recap: Toronto @ Texas Texas took 2 of 3 from the Blue Jays. *Game 1: Toronto 3 Texas 2* Toronto's Shaun Marcum dominated the Rangers for the first 8 innings, giving up no runs and only 2 hits. Texas made it interesting by getting 2 runs off Jays closer B.J. Ryan, but it wasn't enough. *Game 2: Texas 6 Toronto 4* Kevin Millwood picked up his first win of the year. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 runs on 11 hits. Josh Hamilton broke out of a slump by hitting his first homer of the year, a grand slam in the 6th inning! *Game 3: Texas 6 Toronto 5* Toronto led 5-3 after 6 innings, but their bullpen couldn't hold it. Vincente Padilla had a good outing for Texas, but got a no decision. He gave up 5 runs in 7 innings on just 5 hits. Series Recap: Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers I was mistaken in my previous post. This was just a 2 game series. The Rangers won both games. *Game 1: Texas 12 Los Angeles 9* This was a slugfest from start to finish. The teams combined for 3 homers and 9 doubles. The Angels led 8-4 going into the bottom of the 5th inning, but the Rangers scored 4 in the 5th and 3 in the 6th to take the lead. Hank Blalock was 4-4 with 4 RBIs for the Rangers. *Game 2: Texas 3 Los Angeles 1* Ian Kinsler propelled the Rangers to victory in this one. He had 2 doubles and homer, driving in all 3 Texas runs. Jamey Wright pictched 7 strong innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits. The Rangers hit the road now, with 2 games in Toronto, 4 in Boston, and 3 in Detroit.